Production of ammonia.



UNITED STATES} PATENT OFFICE. 4

CARL BOSCH, ALWIN MITTASCI-I, AND HANS W OLF, 0F LUDWIGSHAFEll-ON-THE RHINE, AND GEORG STERN, OF MANNHEIM, GERMANY, ASSIGNORS TO BADISCHE ANILIN 8t SODA FAJBBIK, OIE LUDWIGSHAFEN'-ON-THE-RHINE, GERMANY, A COR- PORATION. PRODUCTION OF AMMONIA.

1,094,194, Specification of Letters iPatent.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that we, CARL Boson, ALWIN MITTASOH, HANS VVoLF, and GEoRc STERN, doctors of philosophy and chemists, subjects the first and fourth of the King of Prussia, the second of the Kingof Saxony,.and the third of the King of Bavaria, residing the first three at Ludwigshafen-on-the-Rhine and the fourth at Mannheim, all in Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Production of Ammonia, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention-relates to the manufacture.

of ammonia by synthesis from its elements.

In our researches on the synthetic man'u facture of ammonia from its elements, we have discovered that the power of catalytlc ,agents generally for the production of am-' in particular, to cover this invention generically. V

In the specification of application for Patent Serial No. 599,101 of even datehere: with, we have described anew form of iron which is capable of use as a catalytic agent in the manufacture of ammonia from its elements, and have further shown that the catalytic power of iron can be-improved by the presence of promoters, and that .certain other bodies act as contact poisons, and as this specific invention is claimed in the said specification Serial No? 599,101 we make no specific claim to it in this application.

As a general rule admitting of several exceptions, compounds: of the alkali metals and the alkaline tearth metals act as pro- I 4 moters of the catalytic power. On the other hand, the metalloids, such as for instance, as

sulfur, selenium, tellurium, arsenic, phosphorus, and also the easily fusible and easil reducible metals, such for instance as lea tin, and zinc, generally act as contact poisons, whether the said elem t be added or be present as such or in the orm of a suitablecompound thereof. Of these contact poisons we have mentionedsulfur in the first place, as this is very liable to be .pres- In' the present application for patentwe desire,

ent, for instance, if the catalyst or the promoter be produced from a compound containing sulfur, such as a sulfid ore or the" like, or if the gases employed during the reaction be dried by means of sulfuric acid.

Since it is evident that during the passage of the mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen over the contact material the body or promoter added may undergo some chemical change, we do not wish to be understood as confining .our invention to the use of the.

specific compounds of the elements mentioned.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914; Application filed December 24, 1910. Serial No. 599,100.

Although we have mentioned a number of v bodies which act as promoters and a number of instances of contact .po1sons, these 1nstances do not exhaust the number of bodies having the effects mentioned. lVe have found that an enormous number of bodies 'havemore or less action in'the ways mentioned, and these bodies belong tovarious classes of chemical substances, so that it is that are not alkaline earths or alkaline -metals or compounds thereof will act as promoters, and we do not desireour patent to be restricted to promoters which fall into the classes of alkaline earths and alkalies. We have devised a simple test whereby 1t can readily be ascertained whether any body is a promoter in the sense ofthis specification The test isconducted as follows: Prepare an intimate mixture of the test body and catalyst ina suitable way. This may be done in some cases by mechanical mixture, in others by chemical precipitation on to the catalyst, or by melting with an oxid of the catalyst, or with the catalyst itself, with or without subsequent reduction with hydrogen or ammonia, or by mixing solutions of catalyst and test body and evaporating to dryness,- or by acoinbination of one or more ofthese methods. Set the product so I obtained as a catalyst in a tube furnacev side by side ,with another tube containing an equal quantity of 'the untreated catalyst wlthout any addition, and pass equal cur-\ rents of a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen in their combining proportions' through both tubes underidentical conditions, and measare the quantity of ammonia obtam'ed 111 30 any one or more of the aforesai can be employed with any one of the cataboth cases. If the yield of ammonia be increasedby the treatment with the added body, this may be regarded'as a promoter.

' As instances of catalytic agents which can be employed according to our invention, we

mention the members of the alkali group, of the alkaline earth group, of the group of earth metals, of the iron group with the exception of iron itself, and osmium. These catalytic agents may be employed either in the form of the metals themselves or com- .pounds'of the metals-may be used which, during the passage of the nitrogen and hydrogen at the requisite temperature, give rise either to ametal or to a hydrid, nitrid, 01''. the like, thereof. As instances of the bodies which can be employed as promoters according-to our invention we mention oxids or other suitable compounds of the group of 2 alkali metals, of. the alkaline earth metals,

of the group of" the earth metals, of the group of'the rare earth metals, also tantalum-,niobium, and the like. We include in this invention both alkali metals and alkali earth metals under the phrase alkali-forming metals. As a general rule. those metals or compounds thereof which yield oxids and salts non-reducible by hydrogen are suitable,

for use .as promoters. Generally speaking, promoters 40 the catalyst and a promoter can. be melted together and, if necessary, subsequently reduced; or 'am'algams ofthe two bodies can be mlxed and the mercury then distilled off,

' or a mixture ofthe chlorids can be reduced 45.w1th hydrogen or with ammonia, or a mix- :ture of the oxids canbe converted by suit able-means into the metals, or a carbid, or nitrid, or carbid-nitrid, or amid, or hydrid,

' or the like of-one or both-of them. The .50 intimate mixture so obtained can generally be directly placed in the cont-act tube. Since 1t is important to avoid theintroduction of poisons into the catalyst, it is desirable to employ initial materials which are free from such contact-poisons, and it is generally most convenient to start from the purest materials obtainable. Further the gases employed should be carefully purified from any materials which are liable to oison the. catalyst.

The temperature whic employedfiduring the reaction .varies within wide limits, for instance temperatures .between 300 and 900 C. may be employed,

whereby it should be remembered that with '65 decreasing temperature the velocity of for- 4 chromium,

may be mation of the ammonia decreases, while at higher temperatures, although the velocity of formation is greater, the state of equilibrium alters, so that the percentage of ammonia' contained in the gases leaving the catalyst is lower. Itis preferred to carry out the catalysis under pressure and particularly under high pressure, for instance from 50 to 200 atmospheres. When working according to this invention, yields of eight per cent. or more of ammonia .in the gases leaving the catalystman easily be obtained, but we do not regard it as departing from the nature of our invent-ion if the velocity of the gasespas sing over the catalyst and the other conditions of working are so chosen that the gases leaving the catalyst contain less than this amount of ammonia.

Ithas been found advantageous that the catalytic mixture consist of metalsor of compounds of metals belonging, preferably, to different groups or, at any rate, to differentsub-groups of the periodic system. Thus for example the following pairs of metals or suitable compounds thereof, as hereinbefore explained, can be used according to this invention: aluminium-magnesium, aluminium-manganese,

barium magnesium, bariumosmium, calcium-nickel, cerium-magnesium, cerium-molybdenum, cobalt-lithium, cobaltmagnesium, cobalt-osmium, chromium-magnesium, chromium osmium, chromium-zirconium, cobalt-sodium, lanthanum-molybde-- num,

lithium-manganese, lithium-nickel, lithium-niobium,- lithium-osmium, lithiumtungsten, lithium-vanadium, magnesiummolybdnum, magnesium-sodium, magnesium-uranium, magnesium-vanadium, manganese-osmium, manganese-vanadium, molybdenum tantalum, molybdenum zirconium, "potassium-vanadium, sodium-osmium, thorium-osmium, tungsten-zirconium, uranium-zirconium, vanadium-zirconium.

The followin examples will serve to illustrate further t 0 nature of our invention, which, however, is not in any way confined to these examples.

Example 1: Take metallic cerium which has been prepared electrolytically and is in the condition of small grains, and mix it ..with about two per cent. of its weight of powdered potassium'nitrate, and then place the mixttge inthe contact tube. On passing a m ture of nitrogen and hydrogen which is completely dry and free from oxygen and contact poison through the tube,

while heating,'a catalytic agent is obtained bariumwhich gives for instance at 600 C. and 100 atmospheres pressure about three times the yield of ammonia which the untreated cerium gives. a

. Example 2: Mix osmium, or osmium oxid hydrate (cf.-Beri0hte, 40, p. 1387), with ten per cent. of its weight of potassium osmate,

and then place the mixture in the contact tube and pass a current of pure hydrogen through the tube while heating. A catalytic agent is obtained which for-instance at 400 nitrate and place the mixture in a contact tube. On passing the mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen which is completely dry and free from oxygen and contact poison through the tube while heating at about 600 C. and while employing a pressure'of 100 atmospheres, results are obtained which are several times better than those obtained with barium alone. In this example, instead of barium, lithium", or calcium, or aluminium, can be employed, either in the form of metal or as nitrid, or amid, 0r hydrid, or carbid.

Example 4: Digest powdered cob-alt oxid (obtained by heating cobalt nitrate to redness) with a five per cent. solution of sodium nitrate. Filter oil the solution and place the damp powder in the contact tube or furnace, dry, and then reduce themixture by means of a current of hydrogen free from contact poison. Place the resulting mass in a contact furnace and pass a mlxture of nitrogen and hydrogen in combining proportions through the said furnace, while employing a temperature of 650 C. and a pres-' sure of 150 atmospheres.

Example 5: Add .a small quantity of potassium oxid to an amalgam of mercury andmanganese, and then heat in a current of pure dry ammonia gas until the mercury has distilled away,.and then place the remaining mass in a contact tube and pass a current of dry, pure hydrogen and nitrogen in combinmg proportions through the tube at from 500 to 600 0., and at a pressure approaching 200 atmospheres.

Example 6: Mix cobalt with five per cent. of its weight of aluminium and then apply a light to the mixture and melt the product in a current of oxygen. Then reduce the product so obtained with hydrogen free from contact poison. The oxygen used should also be free from contact poison. The catalytic agent which can be employed in the form of grains, gives good yields of ammonia, for instance when employed at a temperature of 500 C. and at a pressure of 50 atmospheres.

- The production of ammonia when making use of either manganese, barium, cerium or osmium together with a promoter in each case although claimed generically herein is claimed specifically in Patents Nos.

1,068,966; 1,068,967; 1,068,968 and 1,058,969

and is therefore not claimed specifically in this present application.

Now What we claim is 1. The process of manufacturing ammonia by passing a mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen free from contact poison over an active catalyst containinga catalytic agent, and a promoter.

2. The process of manufacturing ammonia i by passing a mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen over an active catalyst containing a catalytic agent and a promoter, while substantially avoiding the presence of sulfur.

3. The process of manufacturing ammonla I by passing a mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen free from contact poison over an active catalyst containing cobalt and a promoter.

4. The process of manufacturing ammoniaby passing a mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen free from contact poison over an active catalyst containing cobalt and an oxid-of an earth metal. F

5. The process of manufacturing ammonia by passing a mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen free from contact poison over an active catalyst containing cobalt and alumina.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J; Ame LLOYD. 

